How did Bubba Wallace Jr. perform at NASCAR Food City Dirt Race at Bristol Motor Speedway?

NASCAR Cup Series Food City Dirt Race - Practice
NASCAR Cup Series Food City Dirt Race - Practice

While Kyle Busch picked up his first win of the season, Bubba Wallace Jr. struggled in the top thirty, posting a 28th finish in the Cup Series' first dirt race that went green at exactly 7:05 p.m. E.T. The 250-laps race turned out to be one of the most thrilling sports over the weekend, with Kyle Busch stealing the show with a stunning finish.

On Twitter, Bob Pockrass announced Kyle Busch's victory.

The 250-lap race brought the checkered flag down, with Bubba Wallace Jr. running second last as the other seven drivers recorded DNFs. The 23XI driver picked up the green flag at pole 22 and with six laps under his belt, he started showing signs of dominance, running pole 22 to pole 17 within few minutes.

The aim was to sit in the top ten and create room to take the lead easily. However, Bubba's efforts to sit in the front line kept drying up with every lap of the race. At Talladega in 2021, the race was delayed due to rain showers and Bubba was able to make his way to the finish line.

The same incident happened at the Food City Dirt Race, where the race was delayed for a few minutes due to rain. Despite the delay, Bubba was unable to make a comeback that would have pushed him to the winning stage.


Bubba Wallace Jr.'s performance has attracted attention from his boss

Food City was not the first disappointing race Bubba Wallace Jr. has recorded as he has a series of those this season. It's a trend that has attracted attention from his boss, Denny Hamlin, who said they are trying their best to control the bleeding.

However, from that point on, the No.23 driver’s performance is slowly deteriorating. If this continues, his team will be on the losing side considering it’s new in the market.

Since the Daytona 500 where he finished as runner-up, the best he has done is a 13th finish in Atlanta. The rest of the races were a mixture of good, worst and numerous wrecks. In 8 starts, he has already collected 163 points and is hoping for more in the future races.

From what we have seen since his full cup series debut, Bubba Wallace Jr. is a hardworking driver and cannot be judged by a few races. The season still has enough space for improvement with more than 20 races remaining.

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Edited by Ashish Yadav